Women killed husbands every 32 hours in 2022: Report
The demand for gender-neutral laws for domestic violence is gaining momentum amid recent media reports of women murdering their husbands. As per the data compiled by journalist Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj's team based solely on news reports from India, a woman murdered her husband every 32 hours in 2022. She stated that the actual figures would be higher and called for a "Men's Commission."
Why does this story matter?
While India remains a patriarchal society, the country's law lacks specified clauses to protect men from violence by their partners. Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code punishes men for subjecting their or their relatives' wives to cruelty, but there is no such provision for men. Additionally, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 presumes women as the subject of domestic abuse.
Report based on 271 murders reported in news
The report is based on 271 murder cases in which men were killed by their wives in 2022. Among these, 218 cases pertained to extramarital affairs in which women conspired with their paramours. Around 48 cases involved domestic quarrels, while four were linked to monetary or insurance disputes. December 2022 saw the most number of such cases at 47—a murder every 16 hours.
No airtime to crime against men: Report
The report says that some of the murderers, the women or their lovers, employed heinous methods and tried to cover up the crime. Despite their graphic nature, none of these cases received prime-time media attention. Meanwhile, news outlets continued to present crimes against women with attention-grabbing graphic and audio overlays, according to the report.
Several cases of people dismembering partners' bodies surfaced recently
It added that cases in which men dismembered the bodies of their female lovers received significant media attention and thus were etched in public memory. However, cases in which the converse was true didn't receive equal airtime. One such example was Anjan Das's murder case.
Anjan Das's murder uncovered while probing Shraddha Walkar murder case
While investigating the murder of Shraddha Walkar, police discovered decomposed body parts in East Delhi's Pandav Nagar that were thought to be Walkar's. When the police discovered that it belonged to Das, his wife and stepson were arrested for chopping the body and dumping it, similar to Walkar's case. However, the case was drowned out by the brouhaha over Walkar's murder.
NCRB doesn't record data related to spousal murder
Bhardwaj stated that media reports on crimes are significantly lower than the actual number of cases reported. She stated that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) doesn't record spousal murder data. Meanwhile, the NCRB has a separate category for crime against women, which saw an annual rise of 15.3% in 2021. Crimes against women are reported every three minutes, as per NCRB's data.
What does NCRB data show about crime against women
Per the NCRB report, more than 4.28 lakh cases of crimes against women were reported in 2021. The national rate of crime against women stood at 64.5%, and 31.8% of these cases fell in the category of "Cruelty by husband or his relatives." Delhi saw the steepest rise in the number of such crimes at 40%, with two rapes being reported every day.
Men don't need protection from women yet: SC judge
Ironically, Supreme Court Judge Hima Kohli while speaking on "Domestic violence during lockdown" in 2020 said, "In our society, we haven't reached the point where men need protection from women." "I am not saying that there is no misuse. But, this cannot be a ground to throw out the law. However, there is no denying that the power structure is in favor of men."
